Environmental compliance specialist Ecoveritas is calling on businesses to ensure they hold live and accurate packaging specifications, as producers today became mandated to collect packaging data under new packaging Extended Producer Responsibility rules.

The statutory instrument (SI), titled Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) Regulations 2023, which was laid before parliament back in the Autumn, has now been strengthened, and data reporting legislation has come into force. It mandates obligated producers in England to collect data from March 2023 and requires reporting data on the amount and type of packaging placed on the market.

The data is required to calculate the fees producers will pay to cover the cost of managing this packaging as part of the EPR for packaging scheme, slated to begin in earnest in 2024.

"EPR legislation requires more and better data than the packaging sector has ever had to supply," said Commercial Manager, Josh Corradi-Remi. "The wider public does not fully understand the impact of EPR and further reforms under consultation, but they have the potential to have a huge impact if implemented well.

"Ecoveritas continues to have so many new conversations with people looking to future-proof their business. Hopefully, we will see more tangible progress towards mitigating risk, making data-based decisions, and improving on sustainability targets in the very near future.

"There remains a huge disparity in understanding and the scale of work still needed if packaging producers are to meet their obligations when the legislation is fully implemented in 2024. It will require collaboration and supplier engagement. And if you'd like to know how we can help you engage your suppliers around data collection, EPR and driving change, please get in touch."

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) last week confirmed that it would be writing to prime minister Rishi Sunak asking him to intervene on both extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the deposit return scheme (DRS).

The BRC said the two schemes combined would "add around £4 billion in costs to retailers", which will be passed down the line, while Defra ?reponded by saying it had already “listened to feedback from industry” by removing its business waste proposals, reducing costs from £2.7 billion to £1.4 billion.

Remi added: "It does defy logic that you have the government, on the one hand, saying that they are pressing ahead with the scheme's final design, and the BRC saying it is unlikely to improve recycling or waste disposal.

"We are dealing with a huge agenda here, and efforts would be much better directed at optimising its implementation. Our stance has remained consistent. You need to do things at a certain point instead of trying to reach full understanding and consensus."